The Presiding Bishop of Lighthouse Chapel International, Bishop Dag Heyward-Mills says the poor performance of the economies of some independent African states calls for the re-colonization of those states. Speaking at the ongoing week-long Iron Sharpeneth Iron Work of the Ministry Conference, Bishop Heyward-Mills noted that independence without the ability of self governance leads to destruction. “The performance of Independent African states under African leaders vindicates the need for re-colonization of African states,” he said. He noted that for the 54 years of Ghana’s independence, no government has been able to complete the seven-mile long road from the centre of the Accra to Mile Seven in Achimota, adding that there were still major development challenges facing the country because the country lacked leaders with the ability to provide self governance. Bishop Heyward-Mills noted that Niger had come from a self-sufficient state in the colonial era to be the poorest country in the world and Zimbabwe was not doing any better after President Robert Mugabe kicked out white farm and business owners from that country recently. He invited a Zimbabwean pastor attending the conference and quizzed him about the value of Zimbabwean dollar to illustrate how African states have been failing since their independence. The Zimbabwean pastor noted that they have one million, 20 million, one billion and three trillion single notes in the country. To the amazement of the congregation, the Zimbabwean pastor said One Billion Zimbabwean Dollar is worth just a piece of bread. But a Senior Research Fellow at the Centre for Democratic Development told Adom News that re-colonization is not an option but what African states needed was a clear long-term development policy direction that every political party would buy into and continue with. “Our development has delayed because our development always changes direction with the change of government but if we can overcome that and have a unified development policy and plan we will be on course to economic independence,” he said. A number of Ghanaians also reacted to the Bishops call saying re-colonization was not an option no matter how slow African states are developing. Some said they prefer independence with the kind of leadership Africa has now to re-colonization, where the whites would place restrictions on Africans and also steal all of Africa’s wealth just like they did in the colonial era. Source: Adom News/Ghana